Professor refutes replacement reasons

Caltrans: "Both bridges are Functionally Obsolete." Both bridges have virtually non-existent shoulders, with just one-foot shoulders on the Salmon Creek Bridge. Other elements of the design of both are also not up to modern traffic and safety standards.

Astaneh: There are few areas along Highway 1 with any shoulder. The highway is intentionally narrow and scenic without city type roads or bridges.

"It's like beautiful places in Italy where you drive and enjoy and you just don't park," Astaneh said.

Creating a bridge with bike lanes and shoulders makes little sense when the road on either side is narrow and dangerous, he said. Ironically, the argument Astaneh is making here is the same argument Caltrans unsuccessfully made about the Ten Mile Bridge. The Coastal Commission stunned Caltrans by denying a coastal development permit, partly because the bridge did not include a walking and biking trail, which Caltrans thought were unneeded because of a lack of walkers and connecting places to walk or bike safely. Caltrans had to redesign that entire bridge to include shoulder and sidewalks, which now deliver that rare user to areas which are difficult and dangerous to walk or bike.

Thousands of California bridges including the Golden Gate are functionally obsolete. Nearly as many are structurally deficient, including the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

Caltrans: The Salmon Creek and Albion River bridges are listed as structurally deficient because of decks rated in "poor" condition.

Back in 2007, Caltrans told this reporter that Salmon Creek's poor condition deck was minor and not any kind of safety issue. The state agency at that time also said the term "structurally deficient" had little meaning. An investigation by this reporter found that to be true. What means much more is the sufficiency rating, which is 49.7 for the Salmon Creek Bridge and 68.20 for Albion River Bridge, both good numbers among bridges in the state. In 2007, the Salmon Creek deck had the same problems including spalling and raveling that it does now. Albion River Bridge has been reclassified as structurally deficient, according to the 2014 inspection report because of the poor condition of the asphalt overlaying the wooden deck. If this is repaired, the structurally deficient status would be removed, the inspection report states. A man whose home overlooks the bridge said Caltrans simply reused the asphalt 10 years ago by melting it and repouring it.

Astaneh: As it appears so far, both bridge decks could be repaired. If more information shows that deck needs replacing, it can be done for a fraction of the cost and inconvenience of replacing the entire bridge.

Caltrans: Low Load Rating – larger permit trucks are not allowed on the two bridges.

Astaneh: All regular and some special permit trucks can cross the bridge, including overweight logging trucks with permits. A new bridge would allow heavier special weight permit and wider wide load trucks which could provide economic benefits if the coast were to develop an industry that needs such loads. However, other bridges and culverts to the north and south currently don't support a varied range of the special permit over heavy or over wide loads. Even if there were such loads, they could not currently reach the two Albion bridges. The maximum load of the Albion River Bridge was recently downgraded from 67,000 to 50,000 pounds. This had nothing to do with the bridge, but instead reflected regulatory changes, CHP officials said.

Caltrans: Deficient Rails – The existing bridge rails on both bridges are less safe and strong than newer ones. They are less safe than modern rails.

Astaneh: The existence of better modern technologies does not warrant bridge replacement. Rail replacements require work on the substructure and are estimated at more than $1 million per bridge.

Caltrans: Costly Maintenance –Thousands of bolts must be replaced on the Albion River Bridge every two to three years. Painting of Salmon Creek Bridge is required every 4 to 5 years to protect the steel at a cost of $2.5 million each time the bridge is painted.

Astaneh: Caltrans should be able to reduce the cost of maintenance by use of modern bolts, such as stainless steel or special protective caps, and higher quality modern paints. He pointed out that modern paints and bolt caps allow construction in saltier, more intense environments like on offshore oil rigs.

"Maybe [Caltrans doesn't] like to replace the bolts with [higher quality] bolts, but that isn't my problem," said Astaneh. The issue is similar with paint, although the Salmon Creek Bridge is engineered in a way that makes it difficult to paint. If Caltrans replaced the deck or did other work, they could take that opportunity to re-engineer for painting without traffic delays, as the Golden Gate Bridge is engineered. Painting structures underneath, and bike lanes could be added to the bridge in a way that would actually increase the strength of the bridge.

Caltrans reports show some areas of significant metal loss due to rust.

Astaneh: Salmon Creek Bridge has apparently been seismically retrofitted at some point. He showed images of bow-tie like additions to the underside of the steel structure that appeared to be added after the bridge was built. He planned to look and research further. There were two main rounds of Caltrans retrofitting, in the 1970s and 1990s. Big River and Hare Creek Bridges were retrofit in the 1990s but this reporter could not find out if and when Salmon Creek was done. Albion River Bridge has not been retrofit and was never on the urgent lists of bridges still needing retrofit. Astaneh says retrofitting Albion (or both) could be the opportunity to fix the bridge(s).

Caltrans: Albion River Bridge deck urgently needs replacement.

Astaneh: The pot holes on the deck are more indicative of an asphalt problem than a deck problem. Although he found no rot in a cursory investigation, he said more information is needed from Caltrans for making this decision. Caltrans inspection reports identify numerous bad spots in the timbers. Caltrans now plans to replace the entire deck on the Albion River Bridge then tear that brand new deck down along with the rest of the bridge a few years later.

Caltrans: Both bridges are nearing the end of their lives. Caltrans gives estimates no more than 20 years out. This is an area where Caltrans differs radically from the professor.

Astaneh: Steel bridges can have an unlimited lifespan if properly maintained. Caltrans has done proper maintenance, he said.

On Albion being near the end of its life; "This does not seem to have been based on engineering data and historical performance of timber bridges such as Albion River Bridge, which have used treated timber. There are many timber bridges in the U.S. and other countries, subjected to much harsher conditions than this bridge that are more than 90 years old and are still under service and are expected to continue to serve for many more decades. The Yangmeizhou timber arch bridge in China is more than 1,000 years old and still in use and the wood in this bridge was not treated. He estimated at least 30 years of life left for the Albion River Bridge, probably more. Astaneh said wood is a good structure for marine use today. He found a contractor in Oregon that builds wooden highway bridges.

Caltrans: The high capacity internal shear ring connectors, used in most of the bridge timber connections, are inaccessible for inspection unless the wood is dismantled. Most of the connections have never been dismantled. They are believed to be near the end of their life due to section loss caused by corrosion. They may have 10 years of remaining life. Replacement will be very difficult and expensive.

Astaneh: Caltrans must inspect the rings before deciding them to be a tipping factor in replacing the bridge. He didn't see expected rust stains if the rings are as bad as Caltrans guesses they are. He said non-structural ones can be inspected without much trouble by an experienced wood bridge engineer. He said Caltrans must have to hire such a person, as the state has few wood bridges. Otherwise, it's all conjecture, he said.